1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine has an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document and, based on the image that has been read by the image reading apparatus, forms an image on recording paper.
The image reading apparatus has an automatic document feeder (ADF) that conveys a document from a document stacking unit to a discharging unit, provided below the document stacking unit, via a reading position.
As the ADF discharges and stacks documents in the discharging unit, a user removes the documents from the discharging unit. However, the user may forget to remove the discharged documents from the discharging unit.
To prevent a user from forgetting to remove a discharged document, a technology for illuminating a discharging unit is proposed (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-10902). The discharging unit is illuminated to make the user aware that a document remains in the discharging unit, thereby preventing the user from forgetting to remove the document.
More specifically, when the document of which an image has been read is discharged to the discharging unit, the document is illuminated. To save electric power, the illumination ends after a predetermined time (for example, about 10 seconds) has elapsed from the start of the illumination.
The configuration described above is intended to notify the user, who has set a document on the ADF, that the user has forgotten to remove the document from the discharging unit. This sometimes results in a situation in which a next user uses the ADF without noticing that the previous user has forgotten to remove a document.
The document the previous user has forgotten to remove and the next user's document, discharged to the discharging unit after its image has been read, may be mixed in the discharging unit. In this case, there is a possibility that the next user will take away not only that user's document, but also the previous user's document from the discharging unit.
Furthermore, if a large volume of sheets of the previous user's document are left un-removed in the document discharging unit, a paper jam may occur at a discharge port of the discharging unit.